Lead me from unreal to real; lead me from darkness to light; lead me from death to immortality. — Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Touched by God !

TOUCHED BY GOD !
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When a personal equation is formed between the Lord Almighty in a particular form and an individual in an unknown manner at the soul level, it naturally evolves into a permanent relationship. Our five senses and our adjunct sense called the mind can not explain it. For what happens is the flow of unlimited love from the Almighty to the individual.

I am of a firm opinion, most of us (or, is it all of us) simply belong to a religion or faith as we are born into a family which has that faith or which practices that religion.

God is beyond any religion and love is the language he communicates in. For a true believer in God, for a person who sincerely practices a religion and worships a particular form of God and succeeds in knowing the true unlimitedness of the Lord Almighty, accepting that there are myriad ways of feeling oneness with the God is not an option but comes as a known phenomena as it is an ultimate truth that does not depend on acceptance by all to be the truth.

Each organised religion contains a set of particular beliefs, a set of preachings and a set of practices or ceremonies and has got teachings on how to pray to the Lord. One practices a religion because he is born into it and generally not because of choosing out of alternatives.

The channelling of messages of two dead sons of a Gujarati mother reveal that in the afterworld there is God, sure, but there is no religion.

The travails of people who marry a spouse from another faith usually is very difficult to narrate and will be heart rending to hear. The couple face problems from people other than themselves (other than the couple) first because of the feelings of beloved family members and more from relatives of family clans and the society though initially does not approve but later in course of time accepts the couple as valid as any other couple within a particular religion. Only thing it requires is a lot of mental strength and strongest love for each other in both the spouses that can withstand pressures, retain sanity, find their own happiness and at last win the acceptance from respective parents.

It is thus proved that in human relationship, love is the only seed and nourishment required for living together.
Imagine that instead of a boy’s or girl’s love touching a lover’s heart, love from the Almighty flows to an individual. If a person gets touched by God, he begins to taste the communion with God and every other thing fades in importance.

I personally am admiring Mr Anand Mahadevan.

For he is touched by God.

——– N Ganapathy Subramanian

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I, The Convert
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My conversion was not a change of religion; it was a change of heart
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ANAND MAHADEVAN
I was born a Brahmin and am the grandson of a priest whom I dearly loved. I am educated and my current professional standing indicates that I am reasonably intelligent. I am also affluent and my income would put me distinctly in the upper middle class bracket. I guess that would make me high-caste, rich and smart. In other words, I am not a tribal, or poor or dim-witted. And yet, I chose to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

The world would call me a convert to Christianity. I have no problems with that, though I see my faith more as a relationship with God through Jesus Christ than as a religion. And for the record, I can truthfully claim that no one financially induced or threatened or deceived me into converting to Christianity.

I am fiercely proud of my national identity as an Indian and I am completely at peace with my cultural identity as a Hindu. I retain the name my parents gave me. My wife, who also shares my faith, continues to go by her Hindu name. We have two children and we have given both distinctly Hindu names. In fact, many of my colleagues and acquaintances who may happen to read this column are likely to be surprised. They have no inkling about my faith, for I generally don’t go about announcing it. But if someone does ask me the reason behind the joy and hope that is everpresent in my life, I am always delighted to share it with them.

I write this piece to make one point—that my conversion was not a change of religion but a change of heart. To explain this, I need to go back to my childhood in Chennai, similar to that of so many other Tamil Brahmin boys like me. My grandfather, every bit the virtuous priest, had enormous influence over me. I absolutely adored him and as a toddler, always clung to him. He too loved me to a fault. There was no wish of mine that he would not rush to fulfil. But even in my early, formative years I was unable to relate to the religion he fervently practiced. Later, in my school days, I once spent my summer holidays with him in Trichy. Memories of dawn walks with him, for the ritualistic dip in the Cauvery river, cow in tow, are still fresh in my memory. I learnt many shlokas, some of which I still remember. But I never understood any of it and none of it helped me connect with God.

When I was 19, a Christian friend with whom I used to play cricket invited me to his house for prayer. If he had invited me to a pub, or party, I would have gone too. At his home, he and his sister prayed for me. It was a simple yet delightful conversation with God that lasted all of five minutes. I don’t remember it verbatim, but they articulated a prayer of blessing on my life, future, career and family. It was a simple affair—no miracles, no angels visiting. All they did was utter a deep human cry out to the creator God and His only son Jesus Christ. When they said Amen, I felt in my heart a desire to follow Jesus.

It was a faith encounter with God that I shall not even attempt to understand, rationalise or explain. I simply accept it. It is my faith. It is what I choose to believe. That evening I did not change my religion, for in reality I had none. Hinduism was my identity, not my religion. It still is.

The Christianity I acquired that evening is not a religion. On the contrary, it is an intensely intimate relationship with Jesus. Over the past fifteen years, I have come to know this Jesus even closer. I know Him as the pure and sinless Son of a Holy God. And I know Him as a dear friend to whom I pray and talk to every day—about my career, my dreams, successes, failures, finances and even my sexuality.

If I read a good book, watch a good movie (Rock On is terrific, mate), or eat a good meal at a new restaurant, I would naturally tell my friends about it. In Jesus, I have discovered a truly amazing friend, guide, leader, saviour and God. How can I not tell all my friends about Him? And if anyone does listen and he too comes to believe in Jesus, I am delighted. The world would call it a conversion; I call it a change of heart, like mine.

But I would never force anyone to listen to me, leave alone financially induce, coerce or con him into believing. That to me is pointless and against the very grain of my faith. But I do have a constitutional right to practice my faith and to preach it without deception, force or bribery. It pains to see such basic rights of mankind being cruelly violated every day in this great Hindu nation.

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Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; think of it; dream of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success…